US probes three attacks in 24 hours for terror links

Update:
September, 19/2016 - 11:58

NEW YORK – Three attacks carried out in theUnited States on a single day – a New York bombing, a Minnesota mass stabbingand a New Jersey pipe bomb blast – were under investigation yesterday forpotential terror links.

Authorities say there is no evidence that the attacks were coordinated buttheir timing in under 24 hours raises fears about security – already a majorissue in the country’s deeply divisive presidential election battle betweenHillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Twenty-nine people were injured when a bomb exploded in New York’supmarketChelsea neighborhood on Saturday night, damaging buildings, shattering glassand sending shrapnel flying across the street.

A second bomb was uncovered by police four blocks away and defused safely,before being sent to the FBI in Virginia for forensic examination.

Both bombs were filled with shrapnel and made with pressure cookers, flipphones, Christmas lights and explosive compound, The New York Times reportedlate Sunday, citing law enforcement officials.

CNN reported that officials had obtained surveillance videos showing thesame man near the site of the explosion and where the undetonated device wasfound, according to "multiple" local and federal law enforcement sources.

Hours earlier, less than 160kmsouth in New Jersey, apipe bomb exploded in a trash can on the route of a Marine Corps run before thestart of the race, causing no injuries but forcing its cancellation.

In the Midwest, an assailant reported to be Somali-American went on astabbing spree in a shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, injuring nine peoplebefore being shot dead by an off-duty police officer.

US authorities said the motive of all three attacks was unclear, butelected officials quickly identified them as terror-related.

"If you look at a number of these incidents, you can call them whatever youwant: they are terrorism though," New Jersey’s Republican Governor ChrisChristie, a member of the Trump campaign, told CNN.

Obama arrives in NY

"A bomb exploding in New York is obviously an act of terrorism, but it’snot linked to international terrorism," Democratic New York Governor AndrewCuomo said on Sunday after touring the scene of the explosion in Chelsea.

"In other words, we find no ISIS connection, et cetera," said Cuomo inreference to the Islamic State group. But he also stressed the lack of aninternational terror link was preliminary.

New York went on full alert, deploying nearly 1,000 extra state police andNational Guardsmen to airports, bus terminals and subway stations as PresidentBarack Obama arrived in the city ahead of Tuesday’s opening of the UN GeneralAssembly.

There was no claim for the bombings in Manhattan or New Jersey, but ajihadist-linked news agency, Amaq, claimed that an IS "soldier" carried out theMinnesota stabbings.

IS has repeatedly called for attacks on countries in the US-led coalitionbombing the extremist group in Syria and Iraq.

"This should steel our resolve to protect our country and defeat ISIS andother terrorist groups," said Clinton, using another acronym for IS.

The Democratic nominee, whose lead in the polls has taken a dip, condemnedwhat she called "apparent terrorist attacks".

Trump, who described the blast in New York a bombing more than 12 hoursbefore officials or police, tweeted his "best wishes and condolences to all ofthe families and victims of the horrible bombing".

In Minnesota, FBI agent Rick Thornton confirmed that federal agents wereinvestigating the stabbing as "a potential act of terrorism", as local mediaidentified the suspect as a 22-year-old Somali-American.

’References to Allah’

Police confirmed that the assailant asked some victims whether they wereMuslim before attacking them and made "references to Allah".

While all 29 people who were injured in the New York bombing have beenreleased from the hospital, three of those hurt in Minnesota remainhospitalised, officials said.

"Was it a political motivation, a personal motivation? What was it?" NewYork Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference. "We do not know," headded, calling on residents to be vigilant.

Fifteen years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, officials stress thatthe United States is safer from terror plots that originate from overseas butmore at risk from the lone-wolf attack perpetrated by individuals who may beinspired by IS or Al-Qaeda propaganda.

"In many of these cases we don’t know until two, three or four days laterwhether or not there is a terrorist link," warned New York Congressman PeterKing in a CBS television interview. – AFP